Baku - What's in a name?

Baku is a Japanese good spirit, called the 'eater of dreams'. It is said that evil dreams are caused by evil spirits. When a person awakens from a nightmare, he may call upon Baku, saying: "Baku, eat my dreams." Thus Baku may be induced to turn a bad dream into good fortune by eating up the evil. The creature has a lion's head, tiger's feet and a horse's body.